Many devices today utilize some form of wireless data communication. While a variety of different types of wireless data communication exist, radio frequency (RF) communication is pervasive. Examples of RF communication include cellular networks (e.g., for cell phones), Wi-Fi®, broadcast television, global positioning system (GPS) navigation, and so forth.
RF data communication can be particularly useful to facilitate inter-device communication. For instance, a wireless input/output (I/O) device (e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a keyboard, and so on) can communicate with a computer utilizing various forms of RF communication. This can enable a user to provide input to a computer independent of a wired connection between an input device and the computer.
Utilizing RF communication for data transmission typically involves transmitting data in packets. However, interruptions in packet transmission can occur. For instance, a device can experience power state interruption while sending and/or receiving a stream of data packets. Further, high signal noise environments can cause data packets to be dropped.
Many devices are configured to retransmit data packets when problems in packet transmission are detected. In some scenarios, however, packet retransmission can cause problems with a receiving device. For instance, if a transmitting device erroneously detects that a packet was not received, it can retransmit the packet. A receiving device can thus end up receiving the same packet twice and attempting to process the duplicate packets as different packets. This can impair the ability of the receiving device to properly process an associated stream of data packets.